The more and more and more I read this book and Melville’s obsession with sanity and insanity for his characters is quite strategic since he wants us to understand, but explore the truth, obsession and limits if human understanding. In chapter 113, ” The Forge”, Melville transforms a simple craftmanship to more of a symbolic ritual of obsession and sacrilege. Ahab commands the blacksmith to forge him a new harpoon, that he swears will actually kill Moby Dick. When the forge of the harpoon is done, he asked for his three harpooners-Tashtego, Queequeg, and Daggoo to offer some of their blood as a symbol of baptism.
“Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!” (532), meaning ” I do not baptize you you in the name of the Father, but in the name of the Devil,” Ahab reverses the role of a sacred baptism, not to God, but to his own rage and obsession. This demonstrates Ahab’s rebellion towards Christianity and his hellish transformation of pure revenge. In this scene, he kind of acts like an anti-priest who performs a dark sacrament and using blood from his “disciples” as a sacrifice for the “sake” of revenge. It gave me the chills, just imagining what’s going through Ahab’s mind and how slowly and cruel he’s becoming, demonstrating his way of thinking and how he craves revenge like a man thirsting for water. Melville deepens the atmosphere in the lines of this quote, “This done, pole, iron, and rope-like the Three Fates- remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with the weapon; the sound of the hickory pole, both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered his cabin, a light, unnatural. half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was was heard. Oh Pip! thy wretched laugh, thy idle but unresting eye; all thy strange mummeries not unmeaningly blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy ship, and mocked it!” (533) in the quote, Melville invokes the usage of the Greek mythology the myth of the Three Fates who are goddesses who control the destiny of every living being from their birth to death, it demonstrates on how Ahab’s destiny is now sealed with a weapon and as his creator, he’s now set for what’s coming to him by fate and death. This moment reflects Melville’s warning towards the use of the destructive power of man’s obsession and man’s defiance against religion.
The only thing I like about this book so far is about how Melville uses metaphors, imagery, and philosophical moments, but also the bashing of religion that intrigues me. Even the mythology references.
Hi Darian,
I was thinking about this too when I read this part of the chapter, but you laid it out with a clear understanding of what Melville was doing. I simply had a suspicion but should’ve known it involved a religious context. Great catch!
You certainly point out the literary references, but what are those references doing? What do we see by recognizing the allusions to Greek mythology and the critique of Christianity?
Hello Darian!
Chapter 113 was a great chapter. I found the forging of the weapon, plus Ahab’s spiral to be interesting. Ahab is so fixated on killing the White Whale that we get to explore how obsession messes with the human psyche. I don’t know if you play video games, but the forging and upgrading of the harpoon reminds me of when you need to max upgrade and have max stats on a weapon to defeat the boss battle. Ahab needs to max out his weapon if he wants to defeat the giant beast. I also like how you bring up the point of Ahab rebelling against Christianity. With the covering of the weapon in blood, we see him call forth evil and the devil rather than for God and his protection, which shows where exactly Ahab’s faith lies.
I also really liked how Melville incorporated the three fates as seen from Greek mythology and also Christianity combined. To add onto that exposition, I feel like Melville here jumps from Greek myth to Baptist sentiments then to Catholicism in order to deconstruct the planes on which they stand, overall, pointing out religion as hypocritical and unreliable; and we clearly see this when Ahab uses his power for bad. By generalizing the bounds of each religion, and Ahab easily using it for his own ill will, it now reads as more of a callout to religion as weaponized or pop culture– not really adhering to anything concrete.